Students demand âwhite philosophersâ like Plato, Kant be removed from syllabus

Monday, 09 January 2017

University of London students are demanding that thinkers such
as Plato, Aristotle, Voltaire, and Immanuel Kant be banned from the
philosophy syllabus... because they are white.

UK media quotes students from the University of Londonâs School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) as saying that âthe majority of philosophers on our coursesâ should be from Africa and Asia.

A statement from the studentsâ union added that banning white philosophers should be part of a wider campaign to âdecolonizeâ the university and âaddress the structural and epistemological legacy of colonialism.â

âWhite philosophersâ should be on the syllabus only âif required,â and their work should be studied from a âcritical standpoint,â the statement said, as cited by British media.

âFor example, acknowledging the colonial context in which so-called âEnlightenmentâ philosophers wrote within,â it elaborated.

Many scholars have been outraged by the demand, warning that the situation could spiral out of control.

âYou
canât rule out a whole area of intellectual endeavor without having
investigated it, and clearly they havenât investigated what they mean by
white philosophy,â Sir Roger Scruton told The Daily Mail.

âIf they think there is a colonial context from which Kantâs Critique of Pure Reason arose, I would like to hear it,â he added.

The vice-chancellor of Buckingham University, Sir Anthony Seldon, told The Daily Mail that it looks like âa real dangerâ of âpolitical correctness getting out of control.â

Opinions
within the university are also divided, however. The head of SOASâs
Religions and Philosophies department, Erica Hunter, was surprised by
the studentsâ statement, calling it ârather ridiculous.â

âI would firmly resist dropping philosophers or historians just because it was fashionable,â she added, as cited by The Telegraph.

However,
Pro-Director (Learning and Teaching) Dr. Deborah Johnston sees the
studentsâ initiative to question the syllabus as positive, explaining
that âinformed and critical debate and discussion about the curriculum we teachâ is âa healthy and proper part of the academic enterprise.â